Pilfering of electricity by tampering with the meter and meter box has always been a problem for electric utilities but with the advent of significant increases in the cost of electrical energy, there has been a significant increase in the pilferage of electricity by tampering with electric utility meters, particularly those types of meters having boxes in which the cover is moveable relative to the meter itself and a seal-slide fastener type securement is used. These can be characterized as ringless meter boxes and the invention is particularly directed to pilfer proofing this ringless type of meter box. Neilson U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,729 discloses an electric meter box lock in which the cover of a ringless electric meter box is locked by use of a bolt type lock which prevents access through a screw which fixes the holding part down to the cover and a bracket fixed on the body of the device. Young U.S. Pat. No. 2,242,637 discloses a meter cover and locking ring. In Mylius U.S. Pat. No. 2,071,936, a similar structure is disclosed but there, the bridge of the socket member supports the contact assemblies. The bridge is secured to a pair of angles which are welded to the housing channel member. In Kuhn U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,408 threaded bosses in the base of the housing receive long screws which pass through the bridge 10 and thereby secure the one piece cover 12 in place so that the meter socket can thereby receive the meter which is secured in place by a conventional locking ring. Janson U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,173 and Lajeuness et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,695,923, relate to socket meter boxes in which the bridge has been eliminated and access is by way of an internal latch. Others Such as Campbell U.S. Pat. No. 2,162,548 and Lundberg U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,313 relate to various locking arrangements. Neilsen et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,985, Neilsen U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,992 Morse U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,802, Morse et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,882 and Hoyt U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,674 all relate to locking ring structures which can be used in the system of this invention.
However, for the most part, these prior art structures do not appear to be directed to adjusting or converting existing and/or energized ringless meter boxes to ring lock type meter boxes which provide much more difficult access without a proper key to the lock on the ring.
Briefly described, the basic objective of this invention is to adapt installed non-ring lock meter sockets to ring lock meter sockets and make it much more difficult for certain consumers to steal electricity by by-passing the meter. This is achieved by fastening a bar of steel to the opposed meter stops of an installed ringless meter box and a conventional meter stop collar is formed on or secured to the cover of the meter with the meter collar stop projecting through the opening of the cover. The meter stop collar has a bridge extending diametrically across the opening and screw holes in the bridge aligned with threaded screw holes in the locking bar which has been fastened to the meter stops of the old meter box. Since the meter will be spaced by the spacing of the meter collar that has been added, metal extension male-female adaptors on a common insulated carrier enter into the blade sockets in the terminal block set that is secured to the housing and the insulated carrier is secured to the cross bar. The meter, with its contact blades in the base thereof is plugged into the male contact jaws of the extension adaptors and, a conventional locking ring of the type referred to above, is utilized to lock the meter in place on the newly added meter collar.
Since the meter box cover is now fastened, via the bridge, screws and bar, to the meter existing meter stops inside the housing, the only way to get access to the interior of the box is by breaking the locking ring; all fastening screws and the like are within the interior of the thus modified meter box thereby making it more difficult to pilfer electricity.
In as much as the invention is primarily directed to adapting existing ringless type meter boxes to the locking ring type meter boxes without disconnecting the box from the incoming power lines, a unique safety device is provided which prevents the installer from contacting the live electrical terminals. This includes non-conductive blades secured to a handle and a flexible rubber sheet secured thereto so that when the insulated blades are plugged into the upper ones of the meter box socket, the flexible insulating sheet drapes down over the lower pair of socket blades. Thus, the invention takes the place of several different kinds of locks. A serviceman only has to have a locking band and the conversion kit if the meter box has meter stops. With the meter conversion, (which preferably are made up in advance), at hand the serviceman only has to install the cross bar on the meter stops, and in the disclosed embodiment this entails the drilling of two small holes in meter stops, to install the conversion kit. Also if, the hasp used for sealing the meter box is torn up, it will not have to be replaced because the seal can be put on the locking band. The locking band is a lock that is very difficult to tear up, or break into. So the invention makes it possible to put this locking band on all boxes with meter stops.